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Comment by user_7832 | Hacker News Reader

I am a little surprised to see no one question the author's description or assumption of "Gen Z".

As someone presumably from Gen Z, I find both interfaces either bad or terrible. The partiful design is outright tacky and looks terrible (nothing homogeneous, questionable design choices etc) but Filteroff has so much whitespace it feels like it was designed by soulless corps at Uber or Facebook who just studied from Pinterest.

And as a GenZ who's immersed in tech (news), the fact that this is the first time I'm hearing of Gen Z design definitely raised my eyebrows.

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Welcome to what millennials have experienced for a couple decades: Older generations who think they know exactly what the younger generations want based on little more than a stereotype or maybe the feedback from one young person they spoke to once.

But he didn’t ask just one person, he checked with multiple. Obviously that is still too small a sample size, but who says he isn’t on to something?

That's not new. Gen-Xers got the same thing. Boomers got the same thing. Lazy stereotyping wasn't invented yesterday.

I don't think this blog post means to stereotype all of gen-Z though. I think they're just using it as a foil to talk about the counter-trend to early-21st-century minimalism. That was in turn a counter-trend to late-1990s / early-2000s eclecticism like old Geocities.

>Gen-Xers got the same thing

GenX got ignored. The baton was passed from Boomers to Millennials. I guess we were all taking a bathroom break or something.

GenX UI, at least on the Web, was TABLE layouts with spacer GIFs dictated to us by Boomers who wanted brochures. Our crowning design achievement still lives on in WiFi router Web management tools and phpBB.

Yo, anybody going to the Phish concert? I need a ride.

In my opinion phpBB remains a more usable interface than many modern software applications, especially the web. Dense with information, tools that empower the user to sort, search, and filter. Ability to express yourself via avatars and signatures, multiple color schemes and interface options.

You're wrong because Twapper has a market cap of 65 billion dollars. People love reading things by scrolling down, and then up. And then scrolling down again, pawing at their pocket-sized supercomputers like monkeys before the Monolith.

Tears for Fears is touring again and I'm planning to catch Steve Hackett as well.

Still being talked into seeing a-ha and Duran Duran. Go Gen-X!

Yes, the rescheduled MSG New Years Phish run, then summer tour.

> GenX got ignored. The baton was passed from Boomers to Millennials. I guess we were all taking a bathroom break or something.

There weren't enough of us. Also we were apathetic to everything. At least that's what I was told I wasn't really paying attention.

With no power comes no responsibility.

> late-1990s / early-2000s eclecticism like old Geocities.

My first thought seeing the Gen-Z version was "why don't they show a flashing marquee banner, an email with flapping wings, and play some MIDI music while they're at it?"

Millennials are spoiled by the attention. The Committee for Generational Distinctions is still trying to erase the existence of GenXers.

But it all gets better in your 40s. That's when you and your peers start to have enough power and money to be catered to. And when the 20-somethings start bitching about you.

> Older generations who think they know exactly what the younger generations

This is frequently called 'society'. Keep breathing long enough, you'll find yourself on the other side of that behavior.

We millennials are turning forty, for the first time, this year!

I'm waiting with eager anticipation to hear what wrongs our whole generation is uniquely responsible for.

We're responsible for all the ills caused by things the Gen-Xers were apathetic about.

We Gen-Xers we’re apathetic due to witnessing the blatant greed of the Yuppies and we wanted none of that kind of thing.

> The Committee for Generational Distinctions is still trying to erase the existence of GenXers.

As a member of the Gen X community I am completely fine with this. Oh well, whatever, never mind us.

> But it all gets better in your 40s. That's when you and your peers start to have enough power and money to be catered to.

laughs, then starts weeping in perpetual renter

Honestly, I've seen more camaraderie between millennial & genZ than adversity. Both of us got the luck to be born to "interesting times".

I think what pulls Millennials and Gen-Z together so much compared to other generations is the Internet. We're connected in ways no previous generation has before.

No way, man. We're gonna keep rocking forever!

Eh. I agree with what you are saying, but also think the general trends they are pointing out do seem to sort of be preferred by Gen Z.. more "maximalist." Look at Depop, for example.

--fellow gen Z-er

I can't speak to the Gen Z angle but...

Design is somewhat of a fashion business and we've seen a period where simplicity and spareness has been the fashion. Apple's aesthetic by way of Jony Ive post-skeuomorphism is probably the most familiar example. But whether influenced by or part of the same fashion trend it's extremely widespread. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to find something of a backlash.

The samples on HN might be a bit skewed, its design is after all a bit on the boring side.

A bit boring? It's as dry as a bone :-))

> its design is after all a bit on the boring side.

Web 1.0 utilitarian design

You could even say it has fans.

i agree with the rest of the comments in the thread. there are certainly generational stereotypes, i guess in the world of design ours are an overdose of gradients and rounded corners lol. personally, i'm a fan of a little bit of the maximalist vibe and some brutalist elements mixed in. everyone should try to cultivate their own "aura", that's why i make a shit ton of personal websites (at least one every year) and experiment with trends that i like.

i'll go ahead and also point out where i see these trends are popping up all the time: web3 and crypto. notably, zora and the rainbow wallet do them well, i feel. i think you'll find that the design teams for these companies are pretty young. i even know of some high-schoolers that are part time employees for web3 companies (as designers).

i guess it's a little tangential but it's something i rarely see talked about with web3 -> they will succeed not because of the legitimacy of the technology but largely because of their appeals to the young*. young people love anything with hints of counter-culture and feeling like we're a part of a revolution; it's a thing, i think. though, decentralized stuff isn't really all that punk anymore...

--(another) fellow gen Z-er

* s/o Kropotkin

> the fact that this is the first time I'm hearing of Gen Z design definitely raised my eyebrows.

Isn't the author's description of GenZ essentially "Snap's UI"?

Reminds me of the Girls quote, "I think that I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice. Of a generation."

I'm pretty sure it's just intentional flamebait to promote their product.

sounds like u need to go to more parties friend

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